Horrorcore
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with TerrorcoreTerrorcoreTerrorcore, terror is a music genre. It originated in Frankfurt in 1994 with the birth of the record label Kotzaak . For a short time, terrorcore artists began to appear in Europe, with Netherlands and Germany having the largest terror scenes. Terrorcore is a faster variant of hardcore techno...
.
Horrorcore is a subgenre
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
of hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
based in horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
-themed lyrical content and imagery. While the style is rarely popular, some performers have sold well in the mainstream scene.
Origins
The stylistic origins of horrorcore can be traced to the Geto BoysGeto Boys
Geto Boys is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia...
, whose debut album, Making Trouble
Making Trouble
Making Trouble is the debut album by Houston Hip Hop group the Geto Boys, then known as the Ghetto Boys. The group originally consisted of Bushwick Bill, DJ Ready Red, Sire Jukebox and Prince Johnny C. Following the release of Making Trouble, Rap-A-Lot Records dropped Sire Jukebox and Johnny C from...
, contains the dark and violent horror-influenced track "Assassins", which was cited by Joseph Bruce
Joseph Bruce
Joseph Frank "Joe" Bruce is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler and actor. Bruce is most commonly known as Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse . He is the co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Joseph Utsler and their former manager,...
(Violent J
Joseph Bruce
Joseph Frank "Joe" Bruce is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler and actor. Bruce is most commonly known as Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse . He is the co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Joseph Utsler and their former manager,...
of the horrorcore group Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
) in his book Behind The Paint, as the first horrorcore rap. Bruce says that the Geto Boys continued to pioneer the style with their second release, Grip It! On That Other Level
Grip It! On That Other Level
Grip It! On That Other Level is the second album by Houston hip hop group the Geto Boys, then known as the Ghetto Boys. Following the disappointing results of the group's first album, Making Trouble, Rap-A-Lot Records replaced original rapping members, Sire Jukebox and Prince Johnny with Scarface ...
, with songs such as "Mind of a Lunatic" and "Trigga-Happy Nigga". Ganksta N-I-P
Ganksta N-I-P
Rowdy Williams, better known as Ganksta N-I-P or Ganxsta Nip, is rapper from South Park, Houston, Texas and a member of the South Park Coalition, which he joined in 1987. In 1992 he released his debut album South Park Psycho. This record also help put the South Park Coalition name on the map due...
's debut album, The South Park Psycho
The South Park Psycho
The South Park Psycho is the debut album by rapper Ganksta N-I-P. It was released on February 26, 1992 through Rap-a-Lot Records. The album features production from Ganksta N-I-P, The Terrorists, John Bido and Doug King....
(1992), includes the song "Horror Movie Rap" which samples the soundtrack from the 1978 film Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
. Big L
Big L
Big L may refer to:* Lamont Coleman , better know by Big L, American hip-hop artist.Or a number of British radio stations:*Big L 1395, a British radio station.*Radio Luxembourg's English-language progammes ....
's debut single "Devil's Son" (1993) is considered horrorcore., The group Insane Poetry
Insane Poetry
Insane Poetry is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1988, Insane Poetry is considered to be one of the first horrorcore groups.-History:...
, on their debut Grim Reality
Grim Reality (album)
Grim Reality is the debut album of American hip hop group Insane Poetry. Released in 1992, the album peaked at #98 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart...
(1992), and Esham
Esham
Rashaam Attica Smith, better known by his stage name Esham , is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan known for his hallucinogenic style of hip hop which he refers to as "acid rap", which fuses rock-based beats and lyrics involving subjects such as death, drug use, evil, paranoia and...
, with Boomin' Words from Hell
Boomin' Words from Hell
Boomin' Words from Hell is the debut album of Esham A. Smith. It was first released in 1989, when Smith was 13 years old, and was reissued the following year.-Lyrical themes:...
(1989), both incorporated horror imagery with their lyrics. Kool Keith
Kool Keith
Keith Matthew Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York. A founding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is the self-proclaimed inventor of...
claims to have "invented horrorcore". The term gained prominence in 1994 with the release of Flatlinerz' U.S.A. (Under Satan's Authority)
U.S.A. (Flatlinerz album)
U.S.A. is the highly controversial debut album by hip hop group Flatlinerz, which was released in 1994 on Def Jam Recordings and was produced by Russell Simmons, Rockwilder, DR Period, and Tempest da Undertaker...
and Gravediggaz
Gravediggaz
Gravediggaz is an American hip hop group from New York City, well known for its dark sense of humor and abrasive, menacing soundscapes. The group was formed in 1994 and was effectively a supergroup, bringing together Prince Paul , Frukwan , Too Poetic and RZA...
' Niggamortis
6 Feet Deep
6 Feet Deep is the debut album of the horrorcore supergroup Gravediggaz. It was released August 9, 1994, by Gee Street Records. The album was re-issued in 1997.- Album information :...
(released in the U.S. as 6 Feet Deep
6 Feet Deep
6 Feet Deep is the debut album of the horrorcore supergroup Gravediggaz. It was released August 9, 1994, by Gee Street Records. The album was re-issued in 1997.- Album information :...
).
The genre is not popular with mainstream audiences as a whole; however, performers such as Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
, Twiztid
Twiztid
Twiztid is an American hip hop duo from Warren, Michigan. The group is composed of Jamie Spaniolo and Paul Methric, who perform under the respective personas of Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child...
, and Necro have sold well. The genre has thrived in Internet culture and sustains an annual "supershow" in Detroit called "Wickedstock". Every Halloween since 2003, Horrorcore artists worldwide get together online and release a free compilation titled "devilz nite". According to the January 2004 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary Underground USA, the subgenre "has a massive following across the US" and "is spreading to Europe". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
in 2007 referred to it as a "short-lived trend" that "generated more shlock than shock." New York Magazine put horrorcore in the spotlight by listing off the ten most horrifying horrorcore rappers. Spin Magazine asked Violent J of Insane Clown Posse to list off his favorite horrorcore songs. Songs included, The Dayton Family's "What's On My Mind", Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's "Mr. Ouija", and even Necro's "Billie Jean 2005".
Characteristics
Horrorcore defines a style of hip hop music that focuses primarily around horror-influenced topics that can include cannibalismCannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, and Satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
. The lyrics are often inspired by horror movies over moody, hardcore beats. According to rapper Mars
Mars (rapper)
Mars is an American Horrorcore rapper from the San Francisco Bay Area.-Biography:In 2005, he received national attention when fan Jeff Weise frequented Mars' website and forum before killing nine people...
, "If you take Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
or Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
and you throw them on a rap beat, that's who I am." Horrorcore was described by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
in 1995 as a "blend of hardcore rap
Hardcore hip hop
Hardcore hip hop, also referred to as hardcore rap, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Schoolly D, Spoonie Gee, Boogie Down Productions, and Kool G Rap, it is generally characterized by anger, aggression and...
and bloodthirsty metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
." The lyrical content of horrorcore is sometimes described as being similar to that of death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
, and some have referred to the genre as death rap. Horrorcore artists often feature dark imagery in their music videos and base musical elements of songs upon horror film score
Horror film score
A horror film score is music used and often specially written for films in the horror genre.-Beginning of the Sound Era:While the breakthrough Universal horror films of 1931, Dracula and Frankenstein used little or no music apart from for title sequences, Franz Waxman's score for The Bride of...
s.
Notable representatives
- Kung Fu VampireKung Fu VampireKung Fu Vampire is an American rapper from San Jose, California and the vocalist of the musical group of the same name. He has opened for Twiztid, 2 Live Crew, Tha Alkaholiks, Digital Underground, Kool Keith, KRS-One, Papa Roach and The Pharcyde, in addition to collaborating with musicians such as...
- Big LBig LBig L may refer to:* Lamont Coleman , better know by Big L, American hip-hop artist.Or a number of British radio stations:*Big L 1395, a British radio station.*Radio Luxembourg's English-language progammes ....
- Blaze Ya Dead HomieBlaze Ya Dead HomieChris Rouleau, also known as Blaze Ya Dead Homie, is an American rapper from Romeo, Michigan. His stage persona is that of a reincarnated gang member killed in the late 1980s, and his music is a fusion of gangsta rap and horrorcore.-Biography:...
- Brotha Lynch HungBrotha Lynch HungKevin Danell Mann , better known by his stage name Brotha Lynch Hung, is an American rapper and record producer from Sacramento, California...
- Bone Thugs-N-HarmonyBone Thugs-N-HarmonyBone Thugs-N-Harmony is an American Hip-Hop/R'n'B band from Cleveland, Ohio formed in 1991. It originally consisted of rappers Layzie Bone, Flesh-n-Bone, Bizzy Bone, Krayzie Bone, and Wish Bone. Rapper Eazy-E of the group N.W.A signed Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to Ruthless Records in 1994, when Bone...
- Cage
- D12D12D12, an acronym for The Dirty Dozen, is an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. D12 has had chart-topping albums in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia...
and EminemEminemMarshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition... - EshamEshamRashaam Attica Smith, better known by his stage name Esham , is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan known for his hallucinogenic style of hip hop which he refers to as "acid rap", which fuses rock-based beats and lyrics involving subjects such as death, drug use, evil, paranoia and...
and NatasNatas (group)Natas is an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan.-History:Esham met Mastamind as a student at Osborne High School, who gave him a three-song demo tape of his music, leading the two to form the group with Esham's longtime friend, T-N-T, deciding on the name Natas, an acronym for "Nation... - Flatlinerz
- Ganksta N-I-PGanksta N-I-PRowdy Williams, better known as Ganksta N-I-P or Ganxsta Nip, is rapper from South Park, Houston, Texas and a member of the South Park Coalition, which he joined in 1987. In 1992 he released his debut album South Park Psycho. This record also help put the South Park Coalition name on the map due...
- Geto BoysGeto BoysGeto Boys is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia...
- GravediggazGravediggazGravediggaz is an American hip hop group from New York City, well known for its dark sense of humor and abrasive, menacing soundscapes. The group was formed in 1994 and was effectively a supergroup, bringing together Prince Paul , Frukwan , Too Poetic and RZA...
Hopsin
- Insane Clown PosseInsane Clown PosseInsane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
- Insane PoetryInsane PoetryInsane Poetry is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1988, Insane Poetry is considered to be one of the first horrorcore groups.-History:...
- King GordyKing GordyWaverly W. Alford III , better known by his stage name King Gordy, is an American rapper.- Biography :King Gordy is a horrorcore rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He appeared on Bizarre's solo album. Gordy and Bizarre have been good friends since childhood...
- Kool KeithKool KeithKeith Matthew Thornton, better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York. A founding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is the self-proclaimed inventor of...
- MarsMars (rapper)Mars is an American Horrorcore rapper from the San Francisco Bay Area.-Biography:In 2005, he received national attention when fan Jeff Weise frequented Mars' website and forum before killing nine people...
- ProzakProzak (rapper)Steven T. Shippy, better known by his stage name Prozak, is an independent rapper and film director from Saginaw, Michigan. He is signed to Tech N9ne's Strange Music label through a distribution deal, as well as being a member of the rap groups Project: Deadman and Bedlam...
- Tech N9neTech N9neAaron Dontez Yates , better known by his stage name Tech N9ne , is an American rapper from Kansas City, Missouri. In 1999, Yates and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. Throughout his career, Yates has sold over one million albums and has had his music featured in film,...
- Three 6 MafiaThree 6 MafiaThree 6 Mafia are an Academy Award-winning, American rap group originating from Memphis, Tennessee. Formed in 1991 as Triple 6 Mafia, by DJ Paul, Juicy J, & Lord Infamous, the group at its most featured six members including; Crunchy Black, Gangsta Boo and Koopsta Knicca...
- TwiztidTwiztidTwiztid is an American hip hop duo from Warren, Michigan. The group is composed of Jamie Spaniolo and Paul Methric, who perform under the respective personas of Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child...